Thing 21: I have used YouTube before. I saw my first digital video camera this past week. I would like to learn how to use this with YouTube. I watched all the library YouTubes clips and enjoyed the “fun extra” YouTube videos. I have also wanted to watch the Saturday Night Live Tina Fey version of Sarah Palin. That was good! This is a great way to share creative thought and information. I liked the students sharing their reviews of books, in costume and in discussion groups. I was wondering about parents allowing their children to be on the web in this fashion however. I know I would have some who would object to this.
Thing 22: I have listened to a podcast on websearching before. It was wonderful to be able to find something that interested me specifically…a great way to do school inservice!! I watched the video and especially noted the creative cow podcasting tutorial to refer to again when I try to do this myself in school. “How to Podcast” had a good outline of steps on how to proceed. I will need to make sure I have audacity and download the “lame MP3 encoder.” I also noted that I can get music from CCMixter or Podsafe Music Network. This has been an issue for me before with past projects. It looks like I would have to log in to use both these sites. The amount of logins is amazing and crazy with all the passwords. For this school year, I am interested in having our 5/6 students write and practice reading a book review on one of their favorite reads and then create a podcast. We can then put this into our catalog so that other students can listen to what the book is about as they are searching for something they would like to read.
Thing 23: Yeah! My last thing! I feel like I just got my feet slightly damp and can now try to take some more steps to getting them more wet. I LOVED the overview of SOOO many things. As overwhelming as it could feel at times and, I am not even sure how much of the information I have internalized, it was absolutely a great way to “taste” it all! I really enjoyed the YouTube and podcasting. I am also planning to try some more things with a wiki. I am glad to have been made aware of the best Web 2.0 sites available. I liked the programs format, but like everything on the web I have learned not to click on everything that is hyperlinked or I could be at the computer forever. It was just part of my nature to be sure I “covered” everything. Now I click on what works for me…yeah! Please keep me aware of any new things that are added. I would definitely participate again in a Things to learn about session. I must say it is really tough to do this when school is in session, but I was able to fit it into my summer schedule more easily. Thank you, thank you for making this Vermont 23 Things possible for us ….and not involving tons of paperwork, etc…..just a learning experience to fit our lifestyle.
